


the angels dream of our love

by renhyuck (thereisnoreality)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Succubi & Incubi, Demons, M/M, side norenmin (but not really)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 08:31:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20171269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisnoreality/pseuds/renhyuck
Summary: Case in point: Huang Renjun wishes on a shooting star - or a torrential downpour of falling stars if one was to be accurate - and three days later gets saddled with a sex demon from the Underworld intent on sucking his soul out by his dick so that he could return back to his evil ways.





	the angels dream of our love

**Author's Note:**

> this is a comm for sierra who is an absolute darling that deserves the world. i hope you like it <333
> 
> honestly i don't think it was harder for me to finish a fic with the absolute minimum amount of angst that i could possibly fit in there but it was a fun challenge nonetheless.
> 
> here's a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lZXDHGkuG5ziq14RcFQ8o?si=27cwiYU7Tji85M-xWWN-OA) as always

The stupidest thing Huang Renjun has ever done was wish on shooting star.

A bit of explanation required, no? Well, the story goes like this. A couple of weeks ago, not too long that the ache of the memory had faded too much to be forgotten, but not too near that it slid under his collarbone like the sharp knife of embarrassment, Huang Renjun had realised one thing about himself.

That he was lonely.

Not to be too dramatic or anything, because he wasn’t lonely in that all encompassing way that seemed to weigh on a person, until their shoulders slumped with an invisible force and their smiles were farther and fewer in between. He wasn’t _that _kind of lonely. He had great friends, a marvelous kitten and not-shitty part time job, which is pretty much all you can ask out of one of those. His classes weren’t hard and all in all, considering, his life was pretty good. But… but there was always a tiny nagging feeling at the back of his mind, curling around the back of his neck to whisper in his ear that there was something missing, _something_, something-

So, okay. Maybe Huang Renjun was a little, _infinitesimally _tiny bit lonely.

Loneliness, when finally acknowledged, was very hard to shake off. It followed him through every waking moment, to the second he laid down to rest. Enough that it was maddening. Enough that Renjun was desperate enough to do something as stupid as to wish on a shooting star.

🌠

Pan in on three and a half weeks ago:

Location: Kun’s house. Event: Kun’s weekly movie nights.

Jeno and Jaemin haven’t detached their mouths from each other in the last thirty minutes and it’s past the point of disgusting to genuinely worrying as neither one comes up for air. Jisung looks nauseated and shifts as far back as he can get from the pair on the crowded couch, which sends him pressed against Renjun’s side. Jisung looks up at Renjun with wide eyes and tries to scoot back.

“Sorry, hyung,” he mutters and Renjun swallows down everything he’s feeling and turns back to the screen. Kun and Yukhei, in hosting one of their weekly movie nights, had underestimated how many of their friends would show up for The Proposal.

(“Sandra Bullock is a gift,” Ten had said staunchly, shoving a bottle of cheap wine into Kun’s arms, effectively derailing his surprise at Ten leaving his house for the first time in a month, before leaping into Kuanheng’s arms.)

“It’s no problem,” Renjun says quietly, but subtly tries to pull away so as to not hurt Jisung’s feelings. He’s already in a crappy mood and he doesn’t need Jisung’s sadness adding to that.

Sicheng looks unbothered by the overt display of affection as he walks back into the room, a refreshed bowl of popcorn in his arms, kicking the armchair Jeno and Jaemin are intertwined on as he passes the bowl to a reaching Yukhei before sitting down on the plush comforter under Renjun’s knees.

Renjun instinctively reaches out to stroke his hair, pleased when Sicheng shuts his eyes, leaning into his touch.

_“Are you okay?”_ Sicheng asks quietly in Chinese. Kun’s eyes flick to him and Yukhei sits up and Renjun can almost see his metaphorical puppy ears perking up. Beside him, Jisung stiffens and Renjun quietly bemoans the decision to teach Jisung Chinese all those years ago.

_“Fine,”_ Renjun says and there’s a world of meaning in it. _Please don’t ask, not here, not now_.

“Okay,” Sicheng says in Korean and settles back down nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just thrown half the room into a tizzy.

Sicheng tries to catch him after the movie ends but Renjun escapes as fast as he can, shoving his feet haphazardly in his shoes and all but sprinting down to the bus stop before any of his well meaning friends can get ahold of him and force him to talk about ‘feelings’.

Renjun is fine. Really.

He stares out the grimy bus window the whole way home, refusing to look at his phone intermittently lighting up with texts. Some from Kun, _many_ of them from Yukhei. There’s embarrassment slowly percolating at the pit of his stomach and he can’t stand the thought that his friends might have caught onto his mood. This is why Renjun preferred to never show emotions - less mess that way.

He sighs as he disembarks from the bus, a quiet thank you called to the bus driver who grunts in acknowledgment before walking back to his apartment. It had taken two years for him to move out of the university lodging and Renjun was eternally grateful for it - for the one bedroom apartment, for the space, for the _privacy_. He thrived on being alone, but sometimes there was a little too much being alone.

The apartment is dark when he enters and he hears Moon’s bell jingle as she pads over to him in a silent greeting.

“Hey, girl,” Renjun whispers, not wanting to shatter the quiet of the night by speaking too loudly. Moon meows a hello and wraps her tiny body around his ankles. Renjun doesn’t bother turning on the light and moves through the dark by memory to his bedroom.

The popcorn and small sips of beer he’d taken throughout the movie night at Kun’s had filled him enough that he doesn’t feel like eating dinner and he just turns on his shower instead, bypassing the thought of food entirely.

When he gets out of the shower and flicks on the light, Moon is sitting on his pillow, blinking electric blue eyes slowly at him as he crosses back out into the living room to slide open his balcony. It can hardly be called such a thing, so small that Renjun just has enough room for a laundry rack and a tiny potted plant, but tonight, he drags out the folding chair propped up by the door and settles on it, toweling his hair off absently.

Moon jumps onto his thighs and Renjun hums quietly, petting her as he flicks through his phone for the playlist of old Chinese songs his mother used to sing to him when he couldn’t sleep as a child.

A breeze wafts by him, carrying the strong smell of tteokbokki from his neighbour’s apartment next door, and above, the clouds part, revealing a star studded night sky. The stars are bright tonight, twinkling strong above him and Renjun tips his head back fully to stare at the sky as the song fills the space around him.

There’s a flash in the sky and Renjun blinks, sure he must have not seen it properly. Then comes another, and another, until it comes relentlessly - a torrent of shooting stars covering the sky.

“Oh my god,” Renjun whispers, sitting up straight. He’s never seen a single one in his life and now, sitting here on an unassuming Saturday night, Renjun is witness to a torrential downpour of them. _Make a wish_. Renjun jerks, startling Moon who meows in irritation at him but doesn’t move from his thighs. It’s a known saying; make a wish on a shooting star and it will come true. What does he have to lose?

Renjun closes his eyes, hoping to everything and nothing that it’ll work. _Please_, he thinks, mouthing soundlessly as he prays to falling stars streaking their last light across the heavens. _I don’t want to be lonely anymore. That’s my wish - to not be lonely anymore._

Renjun keeps his eyes shut until he’s certain all the shooting stars have faded. Moon meows and Renjun hesitantly opens his eyes, slumping back in his chair when he’s greeted with the silent night sky again.

“Well,” he says, stroking Moon’s head gently. “I guess we’ll see if that works, won’t we girl?”

Moon meows in response and Renjun smiles down at her.

Far, far up in the sky, too high up for any human eye to see, a star twinkles, stronger than it ever had shone before.

🌠

_Interlude_

Donghyuck wakes to a pillow hitting him in the face.

“Get the fuck up,” Johnny orders. “You’ve got a new job.”

Donghyuck groans, turning his face into his pillow, attempting to suffocate himself before Johnny can haul him out of bed. “How could you talk to your favourite demon like this? You’re so _mean_.”

“That’s a lie,” Johnny says mildly, wrenching the comforter off Donghyuck’s body in a way that belies his tone. “I love Chenle, I’d never speak to him like this.”

Donghyuck whines as the cold air hits his body, and he curls up into himself as best as he can, glaring at Johnny. “_Why_?”

Johnny glares down at him unamused. “You’ve got a job. Finally.”

Donghyuck sighs and pulls himself up out of bed glowering, despite the faint blip of excitement that runs through him. It had been _years_, almost two decades since he’d last had an assignment and everyone, Donghyuck most of all, was getting impatient. “What is it?”

Johnny’s lips curl into a smirk. “A human.”

Donghyuck sits up straight, raking the hair out of his eyes. “Really?” He asks excitedly. “I get a human? Finally?”

“Don’t mess it up this time,” Johnny tells him but his expression softens and he smooths Donghyuck’s hair down. “You’re a _demon_, Donghyuck, it shouldn’t be this hard.”

Donghyuck stiffens, indignant. “I _know_,” he says. “I won’t fail this time.”

Johnny’s expression twists a little sadder. “You didn’t fail last time either, not really.” He says, hand dropping down to tweak fondly at Donghyuck’s ear. It’s a lie; a poorly constructed one and ever more poorly delivered. But Donghyuck appreciates the effort. “You just lost your way a little bit. Try not to do that this time.”

Donghyuck sets his jaw. “I won’t.”

🌠

Case in point: Huang Renjun wishes on a shooting star - or a torrential downpour of falling stars if one was to be accurate - and three days later gets saddled with a sex demon from the Underworld intent on sucking his soul out by his dick so that he could return back to his evil ways.

“That is such a gross misstatement,” Donghyuck snaps from where he’s perched on Renjun’s dining table with Moon purring in his arms. Renjun usually finds him like this: on top of Renjun’s furniture - specifically the ones _not _meant for sitting on - with Renjun’s cat curled up in his arms, usually wearing as few clothes as he can get away with. “I’m not a _sex demon_.”

Renjun narrows his eyes at him as he stirs the pan. “My story, my narrative.” He turns back around, frowning. “What are you then? An in-incubus?” He’d done some hasty research and pretty much all he could glean from the shitty Wikipedia page was that Donghyuck was definitely going to kill him when - _if_ they fucked. And Renjun wasn’t all that eager to die quite yet.

Donghyuck examines his nails. “A succubus actually.”

Renjun falters, thrown off. “Isn’t that a female demon?”

Donghyuck shoots him a dirty look over the top of his nails. “Demons don’t have _gender identity_,” he spits, as if Renjun had just offended his mother and his family and his religion (did demons have a religion?) in the same sentence. “That was a stupid thing made up by human who somehow survived an interaction with one and decided to run their mouths.”

Renjun rolls his eyes and turns back to the food.

It’s been three weeks since Donghyuck appeared in Renjun’s apartment and he hasn’t left. He hasn't done much of anything really, except eat all of the food, lick too many things off his fingers while staring Renjun down, become a magnificent nuisance, and make fast friends with Moon despite having levitated her over Renjun’s head the first time they’d met as proof that Donghyuck was not a deranged robber intent on murdering Renjun and stealing his cat.

"Traitor," Renjun grumbles at her, moving around the kitchen table where Donghyuck sat, petting a loudly rumbling Moon. "You hated him when he first came."

"Cats know power," Donghyuck says sagely, running his knuckle over Moon's head. Her purring gets louder and louder, cutting off like a motor before starting up again. "She recognizes my irresistible charm and acts accordingly. You, on the other hand, probably smell like wet bread to her."

Renjun glares at him. "Shut up or I'm not feeding you." He pauses, frowning at Donghyuck. “Wait, why do you eat? Don’t you get all your energy from fucking some innocent soul until they die like all _proper _sex demons?”

“First of all,” Donghyuck sniffs, holding up a hand. “Don’t pretend you know anything about demons, it doesn’t suit you, darling. Secondly, I can get energy from humans but seeing as I’m positively being _starved _-” here he shoots a pointed look at Renjun who ignores it. “I’m making do. Thirdly, food is yummy, I’m not about to starve myself of normal food just because I can’t get four star steak.”

“Eloquently put,” Renjun snipes, slamming the pan down on the table. He ignores the part where Donghyuck had essentially compared him to expensive steak. It doesn’t bear thinking too closely about because it might dredge up some feelings Renjun won’t entirely be happy with himself about. Moon yowls reproachfully at him from where she’s perched on Donghyuck’s thighs. “Now, shut up and eat. You’re coming with me to class.”

Donghyuck splutters. “I am not.”

Renjun sets his jaw. “Oh, yes you are. I refuse to come home again to find you naked on my couch.” Honestly, at the rate Donghyuck was carrying on, Moon was going to need a therapist and Renjun was simply too broke to afford that.

Donghyuck slides off the table onto the chair obediently enough, but his expression turns belligerent in a way that warns Renjun that this would not be a quiet breakfast. “You know, all of this would be solved if you just slept with me,” he points out, scooping up a large spoonful of kimchi rice and shoving it inelegantly in his mouth. The problem is, Donghyuck being who he was, it was very hard to make anything he did look inelegant.

“Or exorcised you,” Renjun points out flatly.

Donghyuck flashes his fangs at him. “Oh, sweetie. Bless your naive heart. For your information, exorcisms only when they’re done by a priest - or any other religious figure, we don’t discriminate - with truly pure intentions.” He sits back in his chair, red eyes flashing in amusement. “And good luck finding someone like that in this day and age.”

“Fuck capitalism, honestly.” Renjun scowls down at his rice. “So all the rules that you guys have, they all have a benefit to you anyways? What’s the point?”

“We _are _demons,” Donghyuck laughs, tilting his head at Renjun. The small horns that poke out of his fluffy black hair glint in the pale morning light streaming through the patio curtains. Renjun had been fascinated by them, and still is, truth be told, when Donghyuck had first appeared. They were small and blunt, a dark obsidian that would have almost been unnoticeable if not for the thin white rings occurring every couple millimeters.

If Renjun had been very pressed, he would have admitted that they looked quite cute on Donghyuck. But thankfully, one of the powers demons - or maybe just Donghyuck - did not possess was mind reading and so Renjun was left to wallow in his traitorous thoughts in peace.

🌠

Bringing Donghyuck to campus was a mistake.

Renjun honestly should have seen this coming.

He scrubs a hand over his face, sinking lower in his seat, as Donghyuck winks salaciously at his Digital Art Professor, making the man - surely well past 50 - sputter and turn an ugly shade of purple in the middle of his lecture.

“_Please stop flirting with my professor_,” Renjun hisses, hiding his face behind his laptop so that he can’t be recognised.

“Oh, are you jealous?” Donghyuck asks, leaning close to him. Renjun involuntarily inhales a huge lungful of Donghyuck’s scent and tries not to choke. He smells like fire, but nothing like a campfire, or a hearth, more like a forest blaze, razing everything down in its path. Donghyuck’s tongue curls around one of his fangs as he moves closer to Renjun, eyes flickering in amusement. “I can do you instead, sweetie.”

Renjun smacks him. “Be silent and let me focus.”

Donghyuck blows him a kiss but surprisingly settles down, propping his cheek up on his fist and listening to the lecture quietly. When Renjun looks over ten minutes from the end of class, notes covering his laptop and fingers cramping, Donghyuck’s head is tipped back against the back of the seat, fast asleep, despite the scandalised looks being thrown his way. Renjun shakes his head and turns back to his notes, ignoring the small smile that plays around his lips.

Thankfully, Renjun only has one class on Fridays, leaving the rest of the day to work. _Unfortunately_, this means Donghyuck tags along to the library, which is a quiet, almost sacred place to Renjun. Two things which Donghyuck is perhaps the complete opposite of.

“Oooh,” Yuqi whispers, placing a large stack of books in a cart ready to be reshelved. “Who’s that? He came with you, didn’t he?”

Renjun follows her gaze to Donghyuck, curled up by the east window, a book about the Reformation period in his hands, eyes squinting suspiciously at the page. “That’s Donghyuck,” he says, not offering any more information.

Yuqi, however, doesn’t even notice. “He’s cute.”

“He’s a menace,” Renjun grumbles. “He’s eating me out of my home and he doesn’t even do anything.”

Yuqi hums in a way that lets Renjun know she’s not listening to a word he’s saying. “Sexy, though.”

Renjun looks at Donghyuck again. He’s wearing a pair of jeans that used to belong to Renjun’s ex, and his shirt is far too big on him, the top two buttons opened, despite Renjun’s protests. The sun is hitting his hair, turning it a lovely brown under the light, despite the cap covering most of it. Donghyuck? Sexy? Hardly.

Renjun coughs to clear his throat, flushing when several accusing glares get shot at him for disturbing the peace of the library. He needs to figure out how to get rid of Donghyuck and preferably as soon as possible. He doesn’t need Donghyuck to start going after his friends for food.

🌠

Honestly, Renjun was a fool for believing Donghyuck had stopped pushing him to sleep with him. He’d thought that after days of silence on the subject, Donghyuck would have dropped the topic and let him live in peace. But what Renjun had forgotten was that Donghyuck was an entity of hell and that every single decision he made was in favour of driving Renjun insane.

He’d come home, after a very long day at the library, abandoning Donghyuck to the monotony of his apartment, only to find the apartment suspiciously quiet.

Moon was sitting on the back of his couch, icy blue eyes watching Renjun warily.

“What’s wrong, girl?” Renjun asks softly, leaning to brush her head carefully. Moon allows it for half a second before she darts away from his hand, scampering somewhere into the kitchen. Renjun lets her go, casting an eye around for Donghyuck who remains missing.

“Donghyuck?” Renjun calls, dropping his bag on the couch, heading to his bedroom. He doesn’t think Donghyuck would have left the apartment - he certainly hadn’t shown any kind of inclination before.

When he pushes open his bedroom door, he freezes. Donghyuck is curled up on his bed in an alluring pose, wearing one of Renjun’s shirts which is falling off his shoulders in the most absurd way, and his eyes are heavy lidded.

“Renjun,” Donghyuck purrs, sitting up. Renjun sees a flash of honey thighs and then immediately looks up at the ceiling. Whatever higher power that had brought this hell upon him was probably laughing right now. “You’re here.”

“And I’m leaving,” Renjun responds flatly, making to leave the room. But before he can even open the door again, Donghyuck’s behind him, slamming the door shut and turning Renjun around.

“You just got here,” Donghyuck whines, leaning in, hand flat on the door beside Renjun’s head. “Won’t you even stay for dessert?”

Despite himself, Renjun bursts out laughing. “That’s a horrible line,” he says, leaning back to get a better look at Donghyuck, who’s alluring look is edging into a pout. “What are they teaching you down there?”

“They don’t teach me anything,” Donghyuck snaps, leaning forward. “This is all organic.”

“Maybe they should,” Renjun says, feeling remarkably at ease despite their proximity. It was fun to rile Donghyuck up like this. “Given that it’s almost going to be a month and you’ve gotten nowhere.”

Donghyuck stares at him for a beat longer, and Renjun watches as his pout fades, to be replaced by something much darker. The air goes electric as Donghyuck leans in closer, a smirk twisting about his lips, as they come far too close to Renjun’s. Renjun’s heart starts hammering so loudly, it’s a surprise Donghyuck can’t hear it.

The thing is, Renjun’s _aware_ of how attractive Donghyuck is. It’d be hard to ignore even if Donghyuck wasn’t blatantly flaunting it every other minute. There’s an innate power that oozes out of Donghyuck, out of every word he says, out of every breath he takes, insidious and far too desirable.

“Oh, Renjun,” Donghyuck whispers and his other hand comes up to thumb at his bottom lip. “I’m not going to give up until I have you in bed moaning my name. And believe me, darling. I am very, _very_ patient.”

Renjun swallows, too loud, and Donghyuck’s red eyes flash in amusement. “Let go of me,” Renjun says steadily. “Before I knee you in the dick.”

Donghyuck huffs out a soft laugh and lets go of him, taking a few steps back, watching in infuriating silence as Renjun spins and slams open the bedroom door, escaping his apartment as fast as he can, ignoring the way his heart is pounding and his hands are trembling ever so slightly. He’s not going to give into Donghyuck. He _won’t. _

🌠

“This is madness,” Renjun whispers to himself staring at the door to Jisung’s dorm. He almost turns around and walks away but the reminder of a naked _demon_ in his apartment purring at Renjun to take off his clothes as well is what spurs Renjun to swallow down what’s left of his pride and knock on his ex’s door.

There’s a groan and the telltale creak of the bed as Jisung slides out of bed and Renjun barely has time to step back and prepare himself when Jisung throws open the door. He stares down at Renjun in abject confusion, black hair ruffled and stuck up to one side which tells Renjun he’s probably spent the whole day lying in bed on his phone and ignoring his assignments just like he used to do in high school. “Hyung?” He asks cautiously, opening the door wider. “What are you doing here?”

Renjun looks back at him, and makes his decision. “Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy, and I really shouldn’t be asking you - I _know_ that - but there’s a fucking demon in my apartment and he won’t leave and you and I always used to talk about these things and I- I don’t know - I just thought you could help me,” he trails off when he catches sight of Jisung’s open mouth. Renjun swallows through a suddenly tight throat. “Or - never mind this was stupid, I don’t-”

“Did you say a demon?” Jisung interrupts, a strange look coming into his eyes. “A demon is in your apartment?”

Relief floods through Renjun and he slumps against the doorjamb. “A fucking demon,” he agrees, scrubbing a hand over his face. “And he won’t _leave_ unless I sleep with him.” There’s a choking sound and Renjun drops his hand to see Jisung turning a purple colour. “Right-” he says and Renjun winces. Probably not the best decision to tell Jisung that. Jisung laughs awkwardly, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck. “Well I mean - lead the way I guess.”

“Are you sure?” Renjun asks cautiously. “Because I know it’s weird and-”

“Hyung,” Jisung interrupts an incredulous expression on his face. “You just told me there’s an actual demon, from _Hell_, in your apartment. I’m not staying away for anything.”

Renjun grins up at him. “Brace yourself,” he says, relief flooding him. It’s nice to have at least one person who’s on his side for this all of a sudden. The only other witness to Renjun’s slow descent into insanity was Moon and as long as she was getting fed, she really couldn’t give less of a fuck about him. “He’s a handful.”

Jisung snorts, some of his old bratiness coming back clear on his face. He tosses his hair back and shuts his dorm room door with a decisive click. “I’m sure I can handle it, hyung.”

Renjun should have known better.

“Are you wearing clothes?” He demands into the apartment as he cracks open the door.

“I am not about to steal your virtue the second you walk through the door,” Donghyuck calls amused. “Do stop loitering outside your own apartment.”

Renjun narrows his eyes at Donghyuck, who’s perched on Renjun’s coffee table, thankfully clothed. “Come in,” he says, albeit in a much softer tone to Jisung who suddenly looks terrified. Renjun swallows down a snort and leads him into his apartment. Place a demon from actual Hell in front of Jisung and he was perfectly unbothered, but sprinkle in a ounce of flirting and he was suddenly backing away.

“Oh,” Donghyuck coos when he catches sight of Jisung. “A _baby_ human.”

Jisung’s face does something far too complicated for Renjun to parse out as he sinks onto Renjun’s couch warily. “Is this him?”

“Am I who?” Donghyuck purrs leaning closer. He throws a sly glance at Renjun. “Where did you pluck him from? He’s _adorable_.”

Renjun smacks him over the head as he passes by the table. “No.”

Donghyuck pouts, rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t even do anything!”

Renjun points an accusing finger at him. “You’re _not_ seducing Jisung. I will kill you if you even try.”

“I’m not gonna be seduced!” Jisung protests, his tiny features the colour of cherries in the summertime.

At the same time, Donghyuck leans so far off the table, Renjun’s afraid he might fall, licks his lips and winks at Renjun to say in a low voice. “Is that a promise, baby?”

Jisung chokes and Renjun resists the urge to march into the kitchen and stab Donghyuck with his nicest knife. “Shut up,” Renjun hisses, sitting down on the couch next to Jisung, pretending not to notice when Jisung edges closer to him.

“You have horns,” Jisung says and it cuts through the tension like a blade. “Are they real?”

Donghyuck swivels his red eyes to him, and Renjun’s heart stutters when he smiles, soft and sweetly mischievous. “They are. I’ve got fangs too,” Donghyuck says, baring his teeth at Jisung who startles. “Would you like to see if I’ve got anything else hidden under-”

Renjun flings the ugliest throw pillow he owns - a gag gift from Jaemin - at his face and when Donghyuck splutters through a mouthful of tassels, casting Renjun a betrayed look, Renjun points a finger at him. “The next time it’s going to be a knife,” he warns.

“Fine,” Donghyuck mumbles, slouching. “I’ll be _appropriate_.”

“Good,” Renjun says and then silence falls as he looks to Jisung. “So uh…”

“You weren’t lying, huh, hyung?” Jisung mumbles, eyes fixed on Donghyuck’s horns, fingers twitching as if he wants to touch to confirm for himself that they were real. “Or crazy.”

“Unfortunately,” Renjun mutters. He thinks he would have taken the psychiatric counseling over a shameless demon living in his house 24/7.

“Can I ask you questions?” Jisung asks Donghyuck eyes wide.

Donghyuck’s lips twist in a fond way and Renjun tries not to feel too affected by it. Jisung inspired that reaction in everyone. “You just did, cutie.”

Jisung blinks at him and opens his mouth. “How did you become a demon? Were you always one? And how did you come to Renjun hyung’s home? Wait, does that mean you’re my hyung too? How old are you?”

With every subsequent question thrown at him, Donghyuck’s eyebrows rise a little higher. “Well,” he starts slowly glancing at Renjun. “I don’t-”

“He’s my personal demon,” Renjun spits, annoyed. “And he won’t leave unless I fuck him.”

Donghyuck’s hesitation vanishes and a pleased expression settles over him. “He keeps saying that. Possessive isn’t he?”

Renjun growls and Donghyuck cackles before turning back to Jisung. “Right okay, here’s the drill. There are demons - we exist. A human,” here he indicates Renjun with a graceful wave of his fingers. “Gets saddled with one every so often when the Forces That Be decide - usually a cosmic circumstance because I don't think Renjun would be stupid enough to actually go summon a demon at a crossroads." At Renjun's silent dissent, Donghyuck shrugs. "Exactly. And the cosmic event was…?” He looks at Renjun.

Renjun scrunches his nose. “I wished on a shooting star.”

Jisung sits up straight, incredulity passing over his face. “A shooting star? Really, hyung?”

“Shut up.”

Donghyuck snorts, leaning backwards on his palms, tilting his head at them. "That'll do it. Honestly, I don't understand why you humans think wishing on a shooting star is a good thing- they're vicious little fuckers."

"What?" Jisung asks, startled. "What do you mean? Shooting stars are _sentient_?”

Donghyuck winks at him in lieu of response. “He’s a smart one,” he tells Renjun instead. “How long did you two date?”

A stunned silence falls over the room and Renjun can feel himself reddening. “How-”

“Oh please,” Donghyuck waves his spluttering away. “How much more are you going to be surprised? I’m a succubus, Renjun-ah. We can tell these things.”

“Two years,” Jisung mumbles and Renjun can feel the heat crawling up his neck. This is _why_ he didn’t want to ask Jisung but he knows that it would have been inexcusable to hide it from Jisung, who had been so excited about going to a conspiracy theory convention with Renjun in high school, he’d fallen off his chair.

Donghyuck coos. “Oh young love,” he sighs, tipping his head back. “How utterly vain and useless it is.” He looks down at them through his eyelashes. “Why bother with all the heartache and sadness when you’re all going to die eventually?”

Glancing at Jisung who sinks lower into his seat, Renjun honestly can’t find a reason to dispute Donghyuck’s question.

The pendulum slowly tips in the other direction.

🌠

_Interlude_

Donghyuck hates getting summoned. He _hates _it. It’s like a fist wraps around his navel and yanks backward until the world falls away, colours spinning and twisting together faster and faster until there’s nothing but a white blur around him, the sound of wind rushing loudly in his ears, until he lands on the ground, out of breath and so dizzy it feels like he could throw up.

“What the fuck?” He coughs out, hands clenching in the plush carpet of Johnny’s apartment. “You couldn’t have just _called_?”

“You would have ignored it,” Johnny says from where he’s sitting on the couch, looking far too intimidating in his bear pajamas. “As you _have_ been doing.”

Donghyuck picks himself up and makes his way to the cushy armchair by Johnny. “What do you want? Did the boss blow himself up again? I keep telling you, keeping Doyoung around is only going to aggravate him more, you know he hates him.”

Johnny doesn’t look amused. “It’s been a month, Donghyuck,” he says gravely. “You haven’t done your job.”

Donghyuck twists his lips unhappily. He knew this would come up sooner or later, that his past would come back to haunt him. “He’s tough,” he protests. “Come on, he won’t even let me near him, how the hell am I supposed to seduce him through that?”

“You and I both know that if you really want to get something done, you could,” Johnny says.

Donghyuck’s jaw clenches. “I’m _not_ forcing him into it, that’s not the way we do things.”

“No,” Johnny agrees. “It’s not. But that’s not what I’m talking about. You’re-” he breaks off sighing and looks at Donghyuck with red eyes too weary for how young he is. Donghyuck bites his lip, shifting in his chair. He hates disappointing Johnny, but he’s telling the _truth_. Renjun is an impenetrable wall of concrete and Donghyuck is a tiny wave, flailing uselessly against it, trying to bring it down by mere persistence alone. “Hyuck,” Johnny says. “You’ll be punished, you know that right? If you don’t do your job, I can’t save you like last time, I-”

“I know,” Donghyuck interrupts, clenching his hands so tightly together, they shake minutely. “I’m not going to fail. I just need some _time_.”

There’s conflict clear on Johnny’s face and Donghyuck knows what kind of a position he’s putting him in. They might be demons but that doesn’t mean a structure doesn’t exist, that they have certain rules they have to stick to when they interact with the human world. “I can give you some time,” Johnny tells him but he’s clearly unhappy about it and Donghyuck aches at it. “But, Donghyuck, you have to do it soon. Or else you’ll be considered obsolete. And after that…” He trails off, the implication of his words clear in the silence trailing behind.

Donghyuck nods. “I know,” he says. “I won’t fail. I promise.”

🌠

Donghyuck has changed.

Renjun wonders if it’s crazy of him to be so attuned to someone he only met a month and some change ago. He can’t help it, though. Donghyuck has changed and every single discrepancy flies out at Renjun like a red warning light.

It’s not obvious, of course. Donghyuck still flirts with him, still teases, still attempts to seduce him, but underneath all of it, under all their interactions is an underlying tension that didn’t exist before.

“Why do you even bother working?” Donghyuck asks, right on time for another round of Annoying Renjun out of His Mind.

Renjun scowls at him. “If I don’t work, I don’t eat. It’s that simple. How else do you think I manage to feed you every time you whine at me?”

“I have money,” Donghyuck offers.

Renjun blinks at him. “Demons have money?”

“Demons have pretty much anything they want,” Donghyuck tells him, with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

Renjun narrows his eyes at him but when Donghyuck doesn’t elaborate, he steps forward. “What’s wrong with you?” He demands. Donghyuck lifts his eyes from the pavement, where he’d been observing it with great interest while they wait for the bus to arrive.

“I didn’t even do anything!” Donghyuck protests, toeing a tuft of grass that pokes up between two slabs of concrete. “What are you yelling at me for now? I just offered you money. How is that bad?”

Renjun frowns at him, ignoring the bit about the money. He can deal with that later. “You’re being weird. What’s wrong?”

If Renjun hadn’t spent the last five weeks of his life observing Donghyuck, every facial twitch, every twist of the arches of his lips, every breath he took, he wouldn’t have noticed. But he has and so he does. Donghyuck’s eyes drop back to the ground and the smile that plays over his lips is nothing close to his usual one.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he tries, but it’s a useless lie and they both know it. Renjun raises an eyebrow, waiting in silence. The bus pulls up in front of them and Renjun twists his fingers into the fabric of Donghyuck’s sleeve, tugging him up the stairs. Donghyuck flinches at the sudden touch. Renjun has never touched him before, not like this, maybe to scold, to smack, but never like this.

Renjun doesn’t let it bother him, only waits until they’re sequestered at the back of the bus to look at Donghyuck again, waiting for his answer.

Donghyuck heaves a sigh, still not meeting Renjun’s eyes. “It’s bureaucratic nonsense,” he dismisses. “The higher ups are getting on my back.”

Renjun wrinkles his nose. “You have a bureaucracy?” He can’t imagine there being a system of governance in Hell. So far in his imagination, Hell had just been an endless pit of fire with demons running around undisciplined.

Donghyuck breathes out a laugh. “Even demons have rules,” he says lightly, staring out the window. “We’re not all as uncivilised as I am.”

His tone is light but there’s still something wrong hanging on the edge of his voice. Renjun chews on his lower lip, considering before he reaches out and takes Donghyuck’s hand. Donghyuck doesn’t jump this time but he does turn to stare incredulously at Renjun. Renjun doesn’t look back, stares straight ahead, heart pounding harder when Donghyuck’s fingers twist around to interlace with his own, tightening their hold on Renjun’s hand.

🌠

“I need to study.”

“Okay.”

Eyes narrow. “I _really_ need to study. I’ve got midterms next week.”

A cheeky grin. “I said okay. No noise, I won’t bother you.”

Renjun stares down Donghyuck for a second longer before deliberately turning his back on him and sitting down at his desk. Behind him, he hears the bedsprings creak as Donghyuck jumps on it. He opens his laptop and in the black reflection spies Donghyuck flipping through a book, several more pulled from Renjun’s precious bookshelf piled up by him.

“Are you working?” Donghyuck asks without looking up from his book and Renjun flushes at having been caught.

“You’re not being quiet,” he shoots back, hurriedly pressing the power on button on his laptop.

He can _hear_ Donghyuck’s smile, and instinctively Renjun’s shoulders tense. “My apologies.”

Renjun turns on his favourite playlist and navigates to his modern art textbook, pulling out his highlighters ready to burn his eyeballs out studying the tiny text. Did textbook authors have eagle eyes? Why was the font so tiny all the time?

A comforting silence fills the room, supported with the quiet music and interspersed with pages turning from both Donghyuck and Renjun, and the occasional huff of laughter from Donghyuck. To his credit, Renjun makes it a good hour and a half before he gets distracted.

He lifts his eyes from the textbook, closing them to relieve the burn and rubbing at his eyes gently. When he opens them again, his laptop screen has gone dark and Donghyuck is reflected in it. Renjun stares at him, taking in his figure artfully spread over Renjun’s sheets, which is a maddening enough image by itself, but Donghyuck makes it worse by absentmindedly biting at his thumbnail, his tongue flicking out every so often. Renjun’s mouth goes dry. Donghyuck’s shirt is low enough that Renjun can see straight down his chest and he can count every second it takes for Donghyuck’s chest to rise and fall.

He’s so tempting and Renjun finds himself becoming weaker every passing day.

Donghyuck’s eyes flick up and meet his in the screen and Renjun’s heart stop beating for a good five seconds, his body pinned to the spot by those red eyes. A smile curves its way over Donghyuck’s lips and he grins, tongue flicking out to curl around a fang. He quirks an eyebrow. “I thought you were studying, sweetheart.”

Renjun startles. “I am studying,” he snaps shakily, thumbing his laptop to life again. He bends his head to stare furiously at his notebook, refusing to meet Donghyuck’s eyes again and it feels like warm honey is being poured down his spine when Donghyuck’s low laugh echoes around the room, curling into his ears and trickling into his skin.

Donghyuck is far too tempting for Renjun to keep resisting.

The pendulum swings a little farther down.

🌠

Loneliness is a strange thing.

It’s something Renjun has lived with for so long that he doesn’t even notice it anymore; almost like an afterthought. He doesn’t notice it anymore but that doesn’t mean some days it creeps up on him, too insistent to be ignored, reaching its claws up over his shoulder and digging into his chest.

This is one of those days.

Renjun wakes up with the familiar, crushing weight of loneliness sitting heavy on his chest. He takes a heavy breath, staring up at the ceiling, trying to figure out why now, of all days, he had to feel like this. There had been no catalyst in his life for him to feel this way, no bad day at campus, no low grades, no issues with his friends. So why did he have to feel like this?

It feels like his heart is ten times heavier than usual, hanging off his ribs, dragging his whole body down. His limbs feel like lead and it feels twice as hard to even blink, his lashes dragging with the effort.

He manages to slide out of bed, trying to ignore the growing pit in his chest and makes his way to the bathroom, determined to get himself cleaned up at the very least. Thankfully, it’s a Sunday, and so Renjun feels absolutely no qualms about spending the whole day in bed, a blanket over his head with the mindless noise of tv washing over him like a harmless wave.

When he stumbles out into the living room, he sees Donghyuck still passed out on his pull out couch, only his fluffy black hair poking out of the covers.

Renjun quietly slides open the patio door only for Moon to scamper from her mysterious hiding place and out on the porch, skidding to a stop before she crashes into Renjun’s plants. The smile that wells up in Renjun takes a very long time to make its way up and he carefully shuts the door behind him so as to not wake Donghyuck.

“Good morning, girl,” he says, keeping his voice quiet. The dawn is beautiful and Renjun doesn’t want to disturb the peace with his voice. Moon purrs up at him, hopping up onto his thighs as soon as he takes a seat.

The weight somehow gets lighter in the morning air but Renjun knows it’ll return as soon as he goes back inside. On days like this, the good moments rarely last. He remembers the last time he’d sat outside like this. Renjun snorts softly to himself remembering the night of falling stars, how desperate he’d been that he’d suspended his rational thought in order to wish on something so fleeting. Moon looks up at him at the sound and Renjun looks back down at her, lips twitching into a half bitter smile.

“I should have known better, huh?” He asks her quietly, playing with one of her ears. Moon meows back at him in answer and Renjun huffs a quiet laugh.

He should have known better. Really. He-

The patio door slides open with a bang and Renjun jumps, heart flying up to his throat. Moon jumps off Renjun’s thighs to hide under his chair.

“What the _fuck_, Donghyuck,” Renjun hisses, turning around to glare at him.

“Whatcha doing?” Donghyuck asks brightly. “Oh, look at that, she left me a spot.” And he promptly drops onto Renjun’s thighs. Renjun’s startled enough that his arms automatically go up around Donghyuck’s waist, bracing him before he can slide off.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Renjun snaps. Donghyuck twists around to grin at him, eyes flashing orange in the morning sun. He looks far too pretty for someone that had just woken up, his cheeks were flushed and his hair was adorably ruffled.

“Why do humans always say that?” Donghyuck muses. “Just say ‘stop’, that’s what you really mean, isn’t it? I don’t understand all the secrecy, just be direct.”

“You’re plenty direct for the both of us,” Renjun says and Donghyuck laughs, turning around to survey the view. Renjun’s apartment is a small one, sequestered far enough from his university that hardly any students live here and close enough to the city that he gets a nice view of the skyline.

“This is nice,” Donghyuck says happily.

Renjun hums, looking over Donghyuck’s shoulder. “It is.”

Donghyuck twists back around and they nearly collide. Renjun backs away but he doesn’t push Donghyuck off him. “Do you know what this would be really good for?” Donghyuck purrs and Renjun knows, he _knows_, he doesn’t want to hear what’s coming, but Donghyuck doesn’t pause, doesn’t skip a beat, just hooks his arm around Renjun’s neck and pulls him closer to purr, “You could _totally_ fuck me over that railing, you know, it’d be-”

Renjun shoves him away and Donghyuck lands on his ass on the balcony and bursts out laughing, head tipped back in glee. “You’re so annoying,” Renjun says but even he can’t hide the smile in his voice. Renjun gets up. “I’m not feeding you today.”

Donghyuck scrambles up. “No, wait,” he whines, dodging the door before it can slam close on him. “Junnie.”

Renjun snorts, pulling away from Donghyuck’s reaching hands and walks to his kitchen. His heart feels lighter and his limbs don’t weigh him down as much. The claws unhook from his shoulder and suddenly… suddenly it feels like Renjun can breathe again.

How strange.

🌠

Despite his previous unease, Jisung’s back at Renjun’s apartment.

“Oh, baby human’s back!” Donghyuck had cried delightedly, when Renjun had opened the door to Jisung’s incessant knocking. “I thought I scared you off last time.”

Jisung had just flushed and mumbled something about not being scared of demons - eliciting more coos from Donghyuck - before turning to Renjun and demanding, “Hyung, buy me food.”

And that’s how they find themselves at Renjun’s favourite hot pot restaurant, Jisung pressed into the corner of the booth, with Renjun opposite him dragging Donghyuck in next to him before he can join Jisung.

“I can’t believe you’re still conning me into buying you food,” Renjun grumbles once they’ve ordered. Deep in his pockets, his wallet wails a lament that goes unheard.

“He didn’t really con you though,” Donghyuck points out, mouth pursed around his straw. Renjun deliberately looks away. “He just asked and you melted like soggy bread.”

Renjun scrunches his nose at him. “What is it with you and the wet bread metaphors. Can’t you think of anything else?”

Donghyuck makes a face back at him. “It gets the point across and I like it.”

Jisung coughs pointedly and when they both turn to look at him, he’s grinning down at the table, poking at his chopsticks.

“What, brat?”

Jisung sparkles up at him. “Nothing, I just thought I would remind you two that I’m also here.” It’s said so sunnily however, that Renjun, quietly pleased that Jisung is talking to him again like he used to, before they were strange and awkward, doesn’t even smack him for the insubordination.

Halfway through the meal, Jisung looks up at Donghyuck with a determined expression. “Demon hyung?”

Donghyuck chokes on a mouthful of meat, turning away from Renjun to cough over the edge the bench. Renjun snorts and slaps his back while eyeing Jisung who grins unrepentantly back at him. “Demon hyung?” Donghyuck demands through a strained voice. “Are you serious?”

“It was funny,” Jisung defends. He waits for Donghyuck to stop coughing up a lung before asking, “So, what do your horns do?”

Donghyuck makes a face. “What do you mean ‘what do they do?’ What do your body parts do? They’re a part of you aren’t they?”

“But,” Jisung points, as if he wants to touch and is just barely restraining himself. “They’re like stone.”

“Obsidian, actually,” Donghyuck says easily, picking up more meat. Renjun’s almost surprised at the comfort with which he’s answering Jisung’s questions, taking his wide eyed curiosity in stride. “They form after our first tasks are finished.”

“First tasks?” Renjun speaks up for the first time.

Donghyuck hums. “Yeah, when we become demons, we have a first task given to us, that starts off our abilities, gives us the starting rank, you know. It’s basically the beginning in our world.”

Renjun opens his mouth to ask more questions, but Jisung cuts him off, his eyes wide. “Can I touch them?”

Donghyuck flushes. “Ah,” he says, clearly caught off guard. “I mean - not no because- that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

Renjun narrows his eyes. Donghyuck’s cheeks are pinkening in a way they never do and he looks down, embarrassed. Renjun wasn’t even aware that the word embarrassed was in Donghyuck’s vocabulary. “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?”

Donghyuck’s blush gets stronger. “Never you mind.”

“Oh,” Renjun says, propping an elbow up on the table and moving closer to Donghyuck, letting a wicked smile curl over his lips. He’s got a leg up on Donghyuck for the first time since they met and he’s not about to let it go. He gently pulls off Donghyuck’s hood, teasingly drawing his hand down until the fabric hits his neck, which flushes redder at the contact. “But I really, _really_ do mind. Why can’t I touch you Donghyuck?”

Donghyuck pulls away from him. “I-” Renjun’s hand drifts to his hair and Donghyuck jerks away, nearly falling off the bench as he does so. Distantly, he really wants to see what it feels like, because Donghyuck’s hair always looks really fluffy and shiny despite the ebony colour.

“Stop that,” Donghyuck hisses, eyes flashing.

Renjun grins, but drops his hand, giving in. “Now you know what it’s like when you’re constantly trying to hop on my dick,” he tells him lowly so that Jisung can’t hear. By the disgusted noise that comes from across the table, he fails. He draws back and meets Jisung’s grimace.

“Can you please stop flirting in front of me?” Jisung complains, but there isn’t any anger or pain in his voice just brattiness, which Renjun appreciates.

“Eat your food,” Donghyuck mutters, and he shoots Renjun a wary look, drawing his hood over his head again and tightening the ties until all that can be seen is his eyes, nose and mouth which is pushed out in a despairingly endearing pout.

Renjun tries very hard not to be too charmed by it and fails miserably.

“I’m going to sleep,” Donghyuck mutters as soon as they get back into the apartment. He toes his shoes off hurriedly making to pass Renjun but Renjun grabs him by the wrist reeling him in.

There’s been a sort of glee building in him since they left the restaurant, waving goodbye to Jisung at the crosswalk. Donghyuck hadn’t looked him straight in the eyes since his horns had come up and Renjun wants to dig deeper, nudge and nudge at him until he does. He’s got a theory and if he’s right, it’ll be the greatest advantage he has over Donghyuck and at this point any advantage is a good thing.

“Donghyuck,” Renjun whispers, pulling him closer, his heart starting to pound slow and hard. “Why don’t you want me touching your horns?”

Donghyuck doesn’t look at him. “It’s personal,” he mumbles, but there’s a blush building steadily on his cheeks again. He’d taken off his hoodie the second he’d entered the apartment, throwing it on the couch, and so there’s nothing stopping Renjun from slowly tracing his hand up the air to hover over Donghyuck’s horns.

His fingers are millimeters away from Donghyuck’s hair when Donghyuck’s eyes flash and he growls, grabbing Renjun’s wrist and throwing him down on the couch, hovering over him, his fangs bared.

Renjun laughs, exhilarated. Finally, a reaction out of Donghyuck. “Oh, touchy aren’t we?” He gasps, a mocking echo of Donghyuck’s words so long ago.

“You’re pushing me,” Donghyuck snaps.

“You’ve _been_ pushing me,” Renjun snaps back, picking his head up off the couch to get in Donghyuck’s space. “Ever since you appeared in my godforsaken apartment, you’ve been pushing me. You haven’t _stopped_ pushing me.” Donghyuck opens his mouth to argue but Renjun wrenches his other hand free and brushes his fingers over Donghyuck’s horns.

Donghyuck freezes, his eyes going wide and words falling silent in his mouth and Renjun stares at him, before daringly touching them again. He expected them to be cold for some reason, had expected obsidian to be cool and sharp to the touch. They’re warm, instead, hotter than any other part of Donghyuck’s body and the effect that touching them has on Donghyuck is incredible. Renjun watches with a dry mouth as Donghyuck’s eyes flutter shut and a low noise escapes him as he shudders, his whole body curving under the touch. His grip on Renjun’s wrist slackens and he gasps.

“Stop it,” he whispers hoarsely. Donghyuck’s eyes flicker open and he stares Renjun down. “_Renjun-_” Renjun’s fingers twitch down to the base of his left horn and Donghyuck breaks off, head thudding down on Renjun’s collarbones, a moan falling from his lips.

“Look at that,” Renjun says lowly, fascinated. “The big demon has a weakness after all.”

“Fu-fuck you,” Donghyuck manages, pulling himself away from Renjun harshly. He presses himself on the other end of the couch, pupils blown, cheeks pink and hair ruffled. Renjun slowly sits up, pushing himself to the other side of the couch. They stare at each other in silence for a beat and Renjun can barely hear himself breathing over the thundering of his heart.

“In your dreams, sweetheart,” Renjun whispers. He tips his head to the side, and smiles, pleased. “Though I’m sure you _have _dreamt of it.”

Donghyuck swallows, his eyes darkening, and for the first time since he’s appeared in Renjun’s apartment, he looks threatening. Renjun revels in it.

🌠

The tension only increases.

Of course it does, because Donghyuck exists to only make Renjun’s life harder.

It’s like being watched by a particularly aggressive pet, though perhaps Renjun shouldn’t use that comparison because Moon was a perfect darling to him. But, it was dreadfully accurate. Donghyuck watched him constantly, almost on edge, as if waiting for Renjun to strike again. It might have been a source of pride for Renjun, to note that he was treated as a threat by an entity of Hell, if it wasn’t so goddamn annoying.

“Will you stop it,” he hisses twisting to look at Donghyuck accusingly. “I can’t think with you looking at me like that.”

Donghyuck blinks slowly at him, looking so much like Moon, perched on Renjun’s table watching him cook. “I’m not doing anything.”

“That’s exactly the problem.”

A curl of a smirk twists over Donghyuck’s lips. “Can’t you concentrate Renjun? Am I too distracting for you?”

Renjun glares at him. Behind him, the ramen bubbles merrily, providing an entirely discordant melody to the tension racketing up around them. “Yes,” he says finally and the admission is shocking enough that Donghyuck’s persona slips, his eyes widening and the smile dropping off his mouth. “Is that you want? For me to tell you you’re too annoying for me?”

Donghyuck tips his head at him, considering him. “What I’d _want_ is for you to fuck me,” he says lightly, the words dripping off his tongue in a filthily easy manner. “But if you insist on playing this game, then we can do that too.”

“There is no game,” Renjun hisses pointing his chopsticks at him. “There is no game at _all_.”

Donghyuck grins again, startling and bright. Renjun’s sure he’s going to end up with whiplash at the end of this conversation alone, along with high blood pressure and a murder charge because he was going to snap and kill Donghyuck.

“You keep on believing that, sweetheart,” Donghyuck tells him. “You’ll figure it out when I win at the end.”

🌠

“Injunnie!”

Renjun pulls his phone away from his ear, grimacing at the volume. “Stop yelling, god. What’s wrong with you?”

“I am… tipsy,” Jaemin announces loudly in his ear. “And you should come get tipsy with me too. So that we can both be tipsy, together.”

Renjun grimaces. Next to him, the bus sign shakes in the wind. “No thanks.”

There’s the sound of scuffling from the other side and then Jeno’s speaking, sounding remarkably much more sober that his boyfriend. “Hey, Injunnie, we’re going to a club tonight. Come with us!”

Renjun hums. “I don’t think so,” he says. “I-”

“You’ve been cooped up in your apartment every day for the past month and if you’re not there, you’re at campus.” Jeno’s voice is calming. “Come out with us, let loose for a bit.”

Renjun opens his mouth to turn him down before realising that if he says no, he goes back to his apartment. And with the state he and Donghyuck are in right now, he can hardly breathe through the tension. “Yeah, okay,” he blurts before he can think about it too deeply. “I’m down.”

Jeno cheers. “Nice. Meet at our apartment?”

The bus turns the corner and Renjun shrugs his backpack onto his shoulder. “Yeah, see you in twenty.”

He thinks of Donghyuck at home alone in their - in _his_ \- apartment and closes his eyes. Renjun’s getting him out of his head once and for all.

Jaemin greets him at the front door, looking impressively mussed up, his hair looking like someone had run their hands repeatedly through it and his neck covered in rapidly reddening bruises.

“Hello stranger,” Jaemin says brightly, leaning against the door. “It’s been a while.”

“Hey,” Renjun says wearily, brushing past him to drop his bag on the counter. “How are you?”

“Better now that you’re here,” Jaemin says sleazily but in that way that’s incessantly charming that Renjun can’t even hate him for it. Jaemin shuts the door behind him and goes to the kitchen to pour them shots. “Jeno’s getting ready. You’re borrowing his clothes.”

“Can’t I just wear these?” Renjun thinks he looks fine in his jeans and tshirt but the disgusted look Jaemin throws his clothes tells him otherwise. “Fine, message taken.”

“Great,” Jaemin says, shoving a shot in his hand. “Now drain that and go get ready.”

Renjun obediently throws back the shot, grimacing at the burn that crawls down his throat, before making his way to the bedroom.

When he and Jeno make their way out half an hour later, the effect of three shots making Renjun much more calmer than before, they find Jaemin standing at the door, eyes bright and bouncing up and down.

“Are you ready?” He asks cheerfully.

Renjun shrugs. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Jeno throws a heavy yet comforting arm around his shoulder. “That’s the spirit.”

The club is dark and hot and Renjun easily loses himself in it.

Jeno and Jaemin are amazing dancers and usually, when he’s sober, Renjun hates having to dance with them, hates the comparison that inevitably comes up, but he’s fantastically drunk and way past the point of caring.

“You’re on top form today,” Jaemin crows in his ear, and Renjun laughs, tipping his head back on Jaemin’s shoulder. Jeno moves closer, his eyes dark as he dips his head to nose up the side of Renjun’s neck.

“Are we really doing this?” Renjun gasps, winding his arms around Jeno’s neck, dragging him closer.

“Please, lets,” Jaemin rumbles, nipping at his earlobe. “It’d be so hot, Junnie.” His hand comes up around the side and wraps in Jeno’s hair, tugging him in to kiss Renjun. Renjun shudders all over when their lips meet, sliding together slick and hot. They’d done this once before, a long, long time ago and it was memorable enough that Renjun didn’t mind letting them be his distraction again.

Jaemin’s hand slides up Renjun’s shirt, and the touch of his cold hand is surprising enough that Renjun gasps, eyes flying open. Jeno shifts to kiss Jaemin and Renjun lets them be.

“I’m getting water,” he yells and Jaemin winks smarmily at him, before reeling him for a wet kiss.

“Be back soon,” he whispers in Renjun’s ear and Renjun just finds it in himself to smack him. Just because he was tensed up and ready to let himself get fucked hard enough to stop thinking didn’t mean he was about to put up with Jaemin’s slick attitude.

Renjun fans himself as soon as he pushes his way out of the mass people, pulling the oversized shirt he’d borrowed from Jeno away from his sweaty skin. He grabs a cup of water from the bartender, after much waiting, and walks away to the edge of the club, where the air was marginally cooler, to sip at the icy water. The floor he’s on is slightly lofted and even from this distance, he can clearly see Jeno and Jaemin, now intertwined like a pair of snakes in the center of the dance floor. Renjun snorts with fondness and looks away, cup almost falling out of his hand, his heart almost stopping, when he sees Donghyuck on the opposite end of the club, staring right at him.

How the fuck did he find him?

Donghyuck’s eyes narrow when their gazes meet and he pushes off the wall he’s leaning against, stalking around the edges of the dance floor to where Renjun stands. Renjun swallows and finishes the rest of his water as fast as he can, letting the cup drop from his fingers when he’s done. It’s not going to matter much sooner.

“What are you doing here?” He snaps when Donghyuck steps into his space, and then keeps stepping, closer and closer until Renjun’s pushed up against the cold wall of the club, Donghyuck’s red eyes burning a hole into Renjun’s heart.

“I should be asking you that question,” Donghyuck says, staring down at him. “You said you were coming home and then I find you here, kissing people who aren’t me.”

There should be an edge of anger simmering in Donghyuck’s words, his expression certainly seems like there should be, but there isn’t. His tone is tightly controlled but there seems to be flames licking off every inch of his skin.

“It’s not your business what I do,” Renjun says coldly. He wants to push him away, he wants to walk away, leave Donghyuck in the dust, but… but he just can’t. There’s something in him that’s thrumming, hard and close to the surface, making Renjun want to stay, making him want Donghyuck more and more the longer they remain in each other’s presence.

Donghyuck’s head tips to the side and his eyes flick down Renjun’s body slowly, proprietarily. Renjun does his best not to squirm. “See that’s where you’re wrong, Huang Renjun,” he murmurs, stepping impossibly closer. His finger flicks down to tease at the edge of Renjun’s shirt, slowly pulling it away from where it’s tucked into his pants. Renjun flushes, trying to back away but the wall hits him in between the shoulder blades, reminding him where he is. “Because I’m _your_ demon. _Only_ yours. And that means I’m the one that knows you best.” His hand curls around Renjun’s waist, burning where it touches, thumb tracing the curve of his skin. Donghyuck smiles, his fangs glinting in the low light. “And I’m the _only _one that’ll ever be able to satisfy you properly.”

Renjun’s jaw clenches and he tips his chin, summoning whatever’s left of his resistance. “That’s rich coming from someone who was reduced to a mess the second I touched this.” And his hand goes up to clench in Donghyuck’s hair, much like Jaemin had done to Jeno earlier, and touches his horns.

It’s almost hypnotising, to watch how quickly Donghyuck crumbles at his touch. He’s clearly trying not to, but Renjun’s unforgiving in his hold and Donghyuck snarls, ripping his head away from Renjun, only to come surging back, wrapping a hand around his chin and kissing him hard.

Renjun gasps, mouth opening up automatically for him, but he’s not about to go down without a fight and he tangles his hand back in Donghyuck’s inky hair making him crumple against him, the force only pushing him harder against Renjun.

“You’re so fucking _annoying_,” Renjun grits out, wrapping his other hand in Donghyuck’s belt loops and tugging him closer. “God you’re just the - the _worst_.”

“That’s a compliment,” Donghyuck gasps, before licking deeply into his mouth. The air around them thickens and thickens until its hard for Renjun to even breathe. He pulls away unsteadily, tipping his head back against the wall to suck in a lungful of air. It’s a futile attempt, though, because Donghyuck just nips down his neck, sucking bruises into the hollow between his neck and shoulder, making all the air escape from Renjun’s lungs.

“Can we- home? Now.” Renjun stutters. He makes the mistake of teasing his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair to pull him off and lets out a disgustingly embarrassing moan when Donghyuck snarls, crumpling into him, his fangs digging into Renjun’s collarbone. Renjun grips tighter onto Donghyuck’s waist, pushing him as far back as he can. “Fuck Donghyuck- home. _Now_.”

Donghyuck straightens and it’s gratifying to see him as shaky as Renjun feels. He shoots Renjun a smirk. “Your wish is my command.”

The apartment is dark when the door slams open. Renjun and Donghyuck stumble through the open door, attached at the mouth and Renjun works his hands as fast his can, stripping their clothes off.

He feels kind of bad that Moon’s under the kitchen table but also, the taste of Donghyuck’s mouth against his own is far too addicting to stop.

“The door - get the fucking door,” Renjun gasps and Donghyuck kicks the bedroom door shut behind the two of them.

“Is this really happening?” Donghyuck asks and his eyes are wanting and needy but there’s a little shine of wonder in them that makes Renjun so fucking fond of him.

“Why are you so surprised?” Renjun responds, pushing him down on the bed and kissing down bare chest. “You’re the one that’s been driving me up a fucking wall all this time, wanting to get in my pants.”

“Well, I didn’t think I’d ever get here,” Donghyuck says, eyes wide as he runs his hands down Renjun’s body, fingers tracing out every curve.

“Can you please get the rest of your fucking clothes off so I can fuck you?” Renjun asks, trying to sound calm and failing horribly and Donghyuck grins cheekily at him, propping himself up on his elbows.

“Only if you’re okay with fucking a virgin,” he says and Renjun freezes.

“What?”

Donghyuck’s face twitches but he keeps his smirk. “A virgin, Renjun. Don’t tell me you’re not up for a challenge?”

Renjun’s hands fall away from Donghyuck’s body and Donghyuck’s face falls. “Or n-nevermind,” Donghyuck blurts, sitting up fully, his cheeks reddening. “I shouldn’t-”

Renjun shoves him back down, trying to calm the whirling in his head, trying to ignore the way Donghyuck’s skin jumps under his touch, trying to make _sense_ of it all. “What do you _mean_ you’re a virgin? You’re a succubus.” He stares at Donghyuck incredulously. “You’re a fucking _sex_ demon!”

Donghyuck shrugs, looking away from him. “I didn’t say I was a particularly prolific one.” He swallows again. “Can you let go of me now? I’m-”

“I have so _many _questions.”

Donghyuck purses his lips, shrugging. “Okay well-”

“But,” Renjun interrupts again, leaning over him. “The fact that - _that_ fact that you just decided to spring on me all of a sudden.” He takes a shaky breath. “That is the hottest thing you’ve ever said to me and that includes all your _stupidly_ infuriating little pick up lines and I really, really wanna fuck you right now.”

“Oh,” Donghycuk says, very wide eyed. “Yeah, please do - do that now. Fuck me now.”

“Great,” Renjun says and slams their mouths together.

Donghyuck is so pliant, it’s almost unbelievable. He still fights back against Renjun, he wouldn’t be Donghyuck if he didn’t make everything twenty times harder, but in every action there’s an underlying layer of supplication, of deep wanting.

“I can’t believe this is the way to get you quiet,” Renjun hisses, pressing a two lubed up fingers into Donghyuck.

Donghyuck lets out a gasped laugh, shifting restlessly against the sheets, and Renjun slams his other hand down on his hip, forcing him down. “Just think,” Donghyuck half moans, hips arching up into his hold. “You could have been fucking me this whole time and you probably would have helped your blood pressure out so much more.”

“Or you could have just _not_ been an infuriating little shit,” Renjun snaps back, twisting his fingers meanly, pressing them far in and just up to see Donghyuck gasp and throw his head back, panting, his neck glistening in the low light. The bronze of Donghyuck’s skin glitters and Renjun, suddenly compelled, leans up to kiss his neck, smiling when Donghyuck’s hips jerk upwards.

“Whe-where’s the fun in that?” Donghyuck says breathlessly. “Live on the edge, Renjun.”

Renjun pulls his fingers out gratified to hear Donghyuck whine. “Honestly,” he mutters, grabbing more lube and carefully pressing three fingers in. “You’re so fucking annoying, I can’t believe I like you.”

Donghyuck stares at him eyes wide and Renjun blinks. “What?”

“You _like_ me?”

Renjun blinks. “Well fuck, Hyuck, I’m not in the habit of putting my fingers in asses of people I’m not fond of.”

Donghyuck smiles, and it’s shy and bright at the same time, and, _god,_ there’s something clearly wrong with Renjun if he finds it endearing at this point in time. “You like me,” he repeats but now there’s a note of triumph in his voice. “You fell for my charms and you _like_ me.”

Renjun rolls his eyes. “For fuck’s sake,” he mutters and kisses Donghyuck to shut him up. “Yes, I like you, you incorrigible demon. Now shut up and let me fuck you.”

Donghyuck laughs against his mouth. “Sir, yes sir.” And the instinctive twitch of Renjun’s fingers makes his mouth fall open and Renjun grins, triumphant.

Donghyuck is so fucking responsive it’s almost headying. He’s also disgustingly flexible and when Renjun pushes his thighs upwards, Donghyuck surprises him by just bending his knees back and propping them up on Renjun’s shoulders.

“I hate you,” Renjun informs him. “You’re seriously the worst person I’ve ever fucked. Or _been_ fucked by. And that’s a really comprehensive list, right there.”

“That’s fantastic. Really, I love hearing about your past conquests,” Donghyuck pants, grabbing him and yanking him closer. “Can you fuck me _now_?” And on principle alone, Renjun wants to say no, wants to back away and leave Donghyuck to fend for himself. But Donghyuck looks so irritatingly good with his hair stuck to his forehead and his chest rising and falling in rapid breaths and that fucking blush back up high on cheeks, and Renjun’s only human and so he breaks, shoves Donghyuck’s legs up and presses into him, slow and hard.

Donghyuck lets out a high whine, his nails digging into Renjun’s shoulder blades. “Oh _fuck_,” he gasps.

Renjun leans down, braces his hands on the bed, and draws his hips back, teasing and slow, just far back enough that it feels like he’s going to leave, before slamming back in. Donghyuck cries out.

“Ren-Renjun!”

“You have to be quiet,” Renjun hisses, slowly picking up his pace. “I’ve got neighbours.”

“I’ll kill them if they say anything,” Donghyuck snaps breathlessly. “Fuck me harder.”

Renjun growls, leaning down to slam their mouths together. “So fucking bratty,” he hisses and Donghyuck lets out a whine as he fucks him again and again and again until the heat rises, until Donghyuck’s fiery scent thickens, enveloping them.

It’s headying.

Renjun never wants to stop.

Donghyuck’s legs fall down and he wrenches his hand in Renjun’s hair, bringing him up over Donghyuck until they’re panting against each other’s lips, drowning in the feeling of each other.

Renjun opens his eyes to see how Donghyuck’s doing and the sight takes whatever little breath he’s collected away. Donghyuck’s staring at him, cherry lips parted on an endless gasp, as a whine falls from his lips.

“I wanna come,” Donghyuck whispers. It’s too soft for them, too quiet for what Renjun thought this would be like. He’d imagined it to be vicious, nails dragging down skin, cries and pants filling the air until they both fell apart, driven to the edge by the other.

It’s nothing like that. Sure, Donghyuck’s nails have made a permanent tattoo on Renjun’s arms and neither of them are being anything close to quiet, but it’s not vicious, it’s not angry, it’s not frantic.

It’s hard and soft and delicate and powerful all at the same time.

Renjun never wants it to end.

“Renjun,” Donghyuck gasps again, voice shattering on the end of his name. “_Please_.”

Renjun kisses him, before burying his face in Donghyuck’s slick, bronze neck and fucking him harder and faster. His hand sneaks down, tracing the expanse of Donghyuck’s body before wrapping around his leaking cock. The second he touches him, Donghyuck’s whole body tightens up, ass clenching around Renjun’s cock. Then Renjun pulls his hand off, and Donghyuck lets out a cry.

“Why’d you stop?” He begs and Renjun would feel so good about having finally brought Donghyuck to his knees if it weren’t for the desperation curling through him.

“I want to make you come the proper way,” Renjun says. “The way I wanted to the moment I touched these fucking things.” And his fingers curl around Donghyuck’s horns.

He’s watching Donghyuck’s face which is why he sees Donghyuck’s red eyes flood darker, the pupils blowing out, the way he falls apart at the simple touch.

“Fuck,” Donghyuck chants, tossing his head back, neck arching, his voice rising in pitch, breaking off, shattering. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, Renjun!”

Renjun nips at his neck, before leaning up to whisper in his ear, “Come for me, Donghyuck.” And like he was just waiting for the command, Donghyuck shudders, a high cry dropping from his lips, coming into the space between their bodies.

Donghyuck clenches so tightly around Renjun, he sees stars for half a second, before he slams his hips against Donghyuck, tipping off the edge and falling with him. Falling for him.

Renjun collapses atop Donghyuck, just barely managing to pull out as he does so. His whole body feels like it’s been wrecked and it’s all he can do to keep breathing. Donghyuck’s hand comes up to wrap around his back and Renjun can’t help the smile that curls over his lips.

“Does this mean I’m going to die?” Renjun asks, sliding off Donghyuck onto the bed, so that he can face him. “Now that you’ve fucked me, am I a dead man walking?” Donghyuck huffs a laugh, hand coming up to thumb at Renjun’s bottom lip. It’s so reminiscent of earlier that night at the club that Renjun’s cock twitches, wanting.

“Silly human,” Donghyuck murmurs. While Renjun feels tired down to his bones, Donghyuck looks like he’s alive again, glowing and thrumming with energy. It’s an attractive look on him. “You’re not going to die. You just gave me your energy, that is all.”

“Is that why I’m so tired?” Renjun mutters, eyes slipping shut.

Donghyuck hums in agreement. “Go to sleep,” he says kissing Renjun softly, his lips replacing his fingers.

Renjun never wants to forget this.

Renjun wants him again.

Renjun wants him forever.

Fuck. He’s absolutely fucked.

🌠

_Interlude_

Renjun is still sleeping when Donghyuck slides out of bed. Dawn is rising to the east, slowly and faintly, and Donghyuck stands there, on the patio, slightly shivering in the cool morning air in his thin sleep shirt, watching the sun crawl up over the horizon, turning everything a burnished gold.

The summons comes just as the last of the sun’s rays edge past the line of the sky and this time, Donghyuck leans into it, lets himself be pulled backward into the white, and falls.

He lands neatly on the familiar plush carpeting of Johnny’s apartment and looks up, brushing his hair out of his eyes. Johnny’s standing in his kitchen with his back to Donghyuck, fiddling with his espresso maker. In that second, Donghyuck misses Renjun with a sharp ache. He was a fool.

“Long time, no see,” Donghyuck says in falsely bright tone. He’s grateful Johnny hasn’t turned around yet because it gives him more time to summon up a smile.

“Hello, Donghyuck,” Johnny says turning around to place a steaming cup of coffee on the counter and gesturing for Donghyuck to take a seat. “You finished your job, congratulations.”

“I did,” Donghyuck agrees, frowning down at the black coffee before winding around Johnny to get at his fridge. “So why don’t you sound happy?”

When he shuts the fridge door, milk in hand, he jumps, startled to see Johnny standing right behind it. Johnny eyes him for a beat before walking around the counter, standing opposite to where Donghyuck’s coffee sits. Donghyuck follows him, setting the milk down hesitantly on the counter.

“You succeeded,” Johnny says slowly, quietly as if he’s trying to brace Donghyuck for impact. “But you also failed, Donghyuck. You fell in love. _Again_.”

Donghyuck looks down at the table, a bitter laugh huffing out of his mouth. “So?”

“So?” Johnny asks incredulously. “So you - Donghyuck you’re a _demon_, you can’t fall in love with every single human you get assigned to. That’s not how we operate.”

“To be fair,” Donghyuck points out. “I’ve only ever had two humans assigned to me.” He doesn’t mention that he’s fallen in love with both of them because Johnny already knows that and mentioning it will only serve to make him more irate.

“And the first one, you didn’t even finish the task because you fell in love with them and didn’t want to hurt them!” Johnny snaps. “Can’t you see what’s wrong with that?”

“Not really,” Donghyuck shrugs. “I got the job done, I did what I had to do.”

“But you’re the one getting hurt at the end of it,” Johnny says, sinking his elbows down on the counter and bending his head in an effort to meet Donghyuck’s eyes. “Hyuck, have you maybe thought that-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Donghyuck cuts him off. “If I get hurt, it’s my own fault. I did it. I didn’t _fail_.”

Silence falls.

“Yes,” Johnny says softly and that, more than anything else he’s said to Donghyuck today, hurts. “You didn’t fail.”

Donghyuck closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m going to go back, just to say goodbye. I can do that at least right?”

“You can.” Said in the same soft, careful tone. Donghyuck hates it. It feels like there’s needles prickling up his throat, stabbing so hard there’s tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

“Great,” Donghyuck says and clears his throat. He sounds too choked up for comfort and Johnny will almost certainly pick up on it. “I’ll see you later, then.”

🌠

Renjun wakes up to an empty apartment.

He twists blindly in bed, casting his hand out for Donghyuck and frowns when his hand hits nothing. The space next to him is empty, the sheets rumpled and cold.

A small seed of dread starts to form in his stomach but Renjun brushes it away. Donghyuck wouldn’t leave, not like this… Would he?

The rest of the apartment is silent as well. Moon is perched on the back of the couch, sunning herself sleepily.

“Donghyuck,” Renjun calls, stepping cautiously out of his room. When there’s no answer, Renjun’s shoulders slump. Apparently Donghyuck _had _left. Renjun shouldn’t have expected anything else. What else was an entity of hell going to do?

Renjun takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Well, then. Time to move-

The front door’s keypad beeps and swings open to show Donghyuck standing there, holding a grocery bag in his hand.

Renjun stares. “Donghyuck?”

Donghyuck smiles at him as he enter the apartment, toeing off his shoes, and Renjun notices that it’s not as bright as usual. His heart falls. “Hey, you’re awake.”

“Where’d you go?” Renjun asks, moving forward to take the bag from his hands. Inside there are bottles of Renjun’s favourite coffee. He looks up at Donghyuck incredulously. “You bought me drinks?”

Donghyuck shrugs. “I thought you’d like it, and I couldn’t sleep. Too much of you running around inside me.” He winks at Renjun and Renjun wishes he could find it anything other than endearing.

“Where’d you go?” He asks again, albeit softer this time. “Donghyuck-”

“I’m leaving,” Donghyuck interrupts, looking at him. His expression is open and hurt and Renjun knew he was going to, but… but it does _nothing_ to lessen the pain of the blow to his heart. “You- my task - not that you’re a _task_ \- but my time, here, with you, it’s up.”

“I figured,” Renjun whispers. “I’m…” He swallows, trying to take a steadying breath. “Donghyuck.” A breath. He blurts, “Donghyuck, I don’t want you to go.” _I don’t want to be alone again._

“I don’t want to go,” Donghyuck says and he steps forward, curls a hand around Renjun’s neck and brings their foreheads together. “I’m going to miss you so fucking much.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to leave me right after making me fall for you,” Renjun mutters, closing his eyes, trying to calm himself down, trying to calm the frantic hammer of his heart. “After _months_ of driving me up the wall.”

Donghyuck laughs softly. “It’s my job, darling,” he whispers. There’s a breath. “I have to go.”

Renjun scrunches his eyes shut and then wraps his arms around Donghyuck’s neck and kisses him. It’s soft and lingering and Renjun doesn’t want to let go.

“Renjun-” Donghyuck breathes and Renjun shushes him.

“No,” he murmurs, kissing Donghyuck again. “No, don’t say anything. Just kiss me until you have to leave. Just- just do that. Okay?”

A pause.

“Okay.”

🌠

Life is quiet after Donghyuck leaves.

Of course it is. Renjun is naturally a quiet person and when he has no one else to talk to, he becomes even quieter.

He goes to campus, then goes to work and then comes home to do his homework. It’s an endless, repetitive cycle and there’s nothing, no other reason, for Renjun to break it.

**sicheng ge**

are you okay

you haven’t been around in a while

**renjun**

just busy

dw about me

**sicheng ge**

come for dinner

**renjun**

i’ve got food you know

**sicheng ge**

wasn’t a question

Renjun rings the bell on Sicheng’s apartment at half past seven. Not even ten seconds later, the door flings open and Sicheng stands there, shoving one of his dogs back by the foot as they try to jump Renjun.

“I can’t believe you got dogs,” Renjun tells him, as he drops his bag by the entryway.

Sicheng makes a face. “Yuta was loudly desperate. It got too annoying to ignore after a while.”

Dinner is already sitting on the table, Yuta reaching for one of the dumplings, when they get to the table. Sicheng smacks his hand away before he can touch it and Yuta shoots him a wounded look.

“We’re about to start eating,” Yuta protests.

“But we’re not yet,” Sicheng says pointedly, holding Renjun’s bowl in his hand and piles rice onto it. He sets in front of Renjun. “Eat. You look half dead.”

“I’m fine,” Renjun says but he obediently picks up his chopsticks. Sicheng’s always been a fantastic cook.

Sicheng makes a face at him. “You’re not,” he says, placing two dumplings on Yuta’s plate, a shy twitch of smile appearing on his lips when Yuta blows him a kiss. Renjun rolls his eyes. Sicheng narrows his gaze at him. “You’ve been off for the last month and I want to know why.”

Renjun sighs. He considers lying but that might just raise more questions than not and besides, Sicheng always knows when he’s lying. So it’s a futile thought. “I had a… relationship,” he starts. “It ended. I’m dealing.”

Sicheng raises his eyebrows - the largest indication of shock on him - and Yuta chokes on his water. “A relationship?” He demands. “And you didn’t tell us?”

Renjun shrugs. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

Sicheng scrutinizes him. “Did it end badly?”

“No,” Renjun sighs. “It just… ended. It’s just taking me a while to get over it.”

He thinks of Donghyuck’s wide smile, his fluffy hair, his soft lips. He’s had quite a few relationships in his time and truth be told, Renjun doesn’t think he’s going to get over this one for a long time.

🌠

_Interlude_

It’s been a month. Donghyuck swallows then knocks on Johnny’s door, rocking back and forth on his heels, waiting for it to open. It’s been a month. The door opens and Johnny blinks down at him, clearly surprised.

“Hyuck,” he says. “What are you doing here? We weren’t supposed to meet today were we?”

Donghyuck shakes his head. “Can I come in though?”

“Yeah, of course.” Johnny stands aside, letting Donghyuck pass him into his main room.

It’s been a month. Since he left. Since he stepped out of Renjun’s arms, staring at his face for as long as he could before he turned around and walked out. Since he left the man he’d fallen in love with behind.

Johnny tilts his head at him. “What’s up, Donghyuck?”

Donghyuck takes a deep breath and meets Johnny’s eyes. “I’m leaving.”

Johnny’s mouth drops open and he stares, clearly speechless, before he huffs out an incredulous laugh. “You’re not.”

“Oh, no, I think I am.”

A pause and Johnny steps forward, hand stretched outward as if he could stop Donghyuck with his touch. “Hyuck if you leave, now-”

“I know.” Donghyuck cuts him off. He’ll lose his rank, start all the way back at the bottom. Lose everything he’d worked for. “Still gonna go.”

“It’s only been a month, you know. Just give it more time-”

An incredulous laugh - this time from Donghyuck. “Have you ever been in love Johnny?”

A longer pause and Johnny’s shoulders slump. “No.”

“Then you really don’t get to tell me to wait a little longer, now do you?” Donghyuck gives him a wane smile. “I’m leaving. He’s worth it.”

Johnny stares at him, before he nods. “If you’re sure.”

Donghyuck steps around him and heads back to the front of the house. The door opens.

“I’ll miss you, hyung.”

A smile cast Donghyuck’s way. “Come back and visit me sometime, Hyuck. I’ll always be here.”

🌠

The apartment is dark when Renjun opens the door.

Moon’s claws click on the floor as she scampers up to greet him.

“How are you doing, girl?” Renjun whispers, bending down to stroke her head, pleased when she’s meows back at him.

He places his backpack on the couch and pulls off his coat, not bothering to turn on the light as he makes his way to the bedroom. The light is on, shining through the crack under the door and Renjun frowns, his heart suddenly pounding harder.

Renjun swallows, taking a shaky breath and holds out a trembling hand to the doorknob. Despite his best intentions his hope ratchets up.

The door swings open to reveal Donghyuck laid out on his bed, naked and wrapped in his sheets, his elbows propped up and his feet kicked up behind him, the curve of his thighs glinting in the low light. At the sound of the door he picks his head up from the book and smiles at Renjun.

“Well there you are,” he says, tilting his head, his fangs glittering. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up tonight.”

The door slams loudly shut behind Renjun. “Donghyuck.” His voice is soft, so soft Renjun himself can barely even hear it.

Donghyuck shuts the book and sits up carefully. “Renjun.” There’s something wary in his eyes. Worried, perhaps, that Renjun won’t like that he’s here. Won’t like his sudden appearance.

Renjun sags against the door. “You’re here? You’re- you’re actually here?”

“I am.” Donghyuck opens his mouth as if to say more, before hesitating. “Can- can you come here, please? So I can kiss you?”

Renjun doesn’t even notice himself moving forward until he’s crashing against Donghyuck, flinging him back on the bed, cupping his cheeks in his hands and kissing him, hard and desperate and so, so salty from the tears running down his face. “You’re here,” Renjun gasps, drawing back just far enough to meet Donghyuck’s eyes. “You’re here, you’re actually here.”

“You’re repeating yourself,” Donghyuck points out and Renjun lets out a choked laugh and kisses him again.

“You fucker,” he hisses, voice wobbling. “You absolute _fucker_. I can’t believe you did that to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Donghyuck whispers, kissing him again and again, his cheeks and nose and lips until Renjun chokes out a wet laugh. “It took me a while. I’m sorry.”

“You’re here,” Renjun mumbles wrapping his arms around Donghyuck’s neck and taking him in, every single beautiful feature. “I was waiting for you. I think I was going to wait forever for you.”

“Well,” Donghyuck says, stroking his thumb over Renjun’s cheek, eyes full of fondness. “I’m here now.”

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/_donghyuck_)   
[cc](https://curiouscat.me/hyxcheis)


End file.
